inhabitants themselves, who for the most part would have preferred to remain under the Gallic rule, to which they had become accustomed. French feeling elsewhere displayed its usual versatile excitement. Strasburg had been cheered, wept over, glorified as the most heroic of cities while she held out against the efforts of the besiegers; the statue of the city in the Place de la Concorde at Paris, as we have seen, had been hung with garlands and verses; Uhrich was lauded as the most exalted of patriots; but now that Strasburg had at last succumbed, it was maintained that nothing but treachery or cowardice could have brought about such an issue. Gambetta denounced the late Governor as a fit subject for a courtmartial.

CHAPTER III.

FRANCE (continued).

Numbers and position of the German Armies-King William at Versailles-Cruelties of the War-Franc-tireurs-Fines exacted by the Germans-Gambetta's arrival at Tours-Fresh levies of Mobiles-State of Paris-Bourbaki's Mission--Gambetta's Proclamation-Sensation at Paris-Red Republicans-Plebiscitum in favour of the Provisional Government-State of opinion in the Provinces-Futile negotiations between M. Thiers and Bismarck-Paris defences-Fresh levies— Battle of Coulmiers-D'Aurelle de Paladines-Orleans recaptured by Germans— Paris Sortie of Nov. 29th-Fighting on the Loire-General Chanzy-Removal of the Delegate Government from Tours to Bordeaux-The Germans occupy ToursSortie from Paris, Dec. 21st-Operations in the North of France-Operations in the East-Garibaldi-Outrage at Lyons-Fall of Verdun and other fortressesBlockade of Paris-Severe frost-Bombardment of Mont Avron.

When the month of October began, the state of things was as follows: Nearly a sixth part of France was actually held by the invaders, whose numbers amounted to 650,000. Metz, with Bazaine's army enclosed within its line of forts, held occupied round it eight German army corps, viz., the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th, the division of Hessians, and General Kummer's division of Landwehr; in all sixteen divisions of infantry. Around Paris were posted sixteen divisions, viz., the Guards, the 4th, 5th, 6th, 11th, 12th North German, 1st and 2nd Bavarian corps, and the Wurtemberg division, from 200,000 to 230,000 men. The newly-formed 13th and 14th corps, mostly Landwehr, and some detachments from the. corps already named, were left to occupy the conquered country, and to observe, besiege, or blockade those strong places within its limits which still held out. Thus the troops recently besieging Strasburg were sent on to invest Belfort, Schlettstadt, and Neu Brisach; those who had besieged Toul marched on to invest Soissons. The Baden division and one of Landwehr, constituting the 15th corps, and about 60,000 strong, were then alone disposable for active operations; but recruits were constantly passing through the reserve battalion cadres in Germany, to add to the

effective force. Inside Paris the armed force of resistance numbered from 350,000 to 400,000 men, Regulars, Mobiles from the provinces, Franc-tireurs, and all included, and more were being daily disciplined.

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The head-quarters of the Prussian King were moved on the 5th from Ferrières to Versailles. He drove with a military escort into the chosen quarter of Louis XIV. amidst a crowd of wondering French, who, along with their patriotic disgust, managed to combine a certain amount of amused curiosity, while gazing at " vieux Guillaume;" "un bel homme," as they acknowledged him to be, adding with the national shrug, "mais pourtant, je serais très content de n'avoir pas vu le bon Roi de Prusse à Versailles." A bevy of conquering Princes and Generals followed in his wake. The forms most gazed at, next to his own, were those of Bismarck and Moltke, the two great machinists of his marvellous success. The King took up his residence at the Prefecture. Bismarck and Moltke occupied separate houses in the town. General Voigts Rhetz was appointed Commandant of Versailles.

No signs were given of the expected bombardment. In fact, a circular addressed about this time to the Foreign Powers of Europe. by Count Bismarck afforded a tolerably clear intimation that, whether from the inherent difficulties of the undertaking, or, as is more probable, from reluctance to shock the feelings of those who were looking on at this terrific drama, it had been decided to reduce the city by famine and not by fire.

The communication ran thus :-"The terms of the armistice communicated to M. Jules Favre, and destined to usher in an attempt to restore order in France, have been rejected by him and his colleagues, who have resolved on the continuation of a struggle which, after all that has happened, must be regarded as hopeless by the French nation. Since the rejection of our terms any chances of victory France may have had in this pernicious war must have considerably diminished. Toul and Strasburg have fallen, Paris is closely invested, and the German troops have penetrated to the Loire. The considerable forces so long detained by the two conquered fortresses are now therefore free for employment in another direction. France will have to bear the consequences of the resolution taken by her rulers to engage in a struggle à outrance. Her sacrifices will uselessly increase, and the destruction of her social system will be all but inevitable. The commander of the German army regrets his inability to prevent this; but he clearly foresees the results of the resistance recklessly determined upon by the rulers of France, and deems it necessary to draw attention to one point in particular —that is, the state of Paris. The two more important engagements before the capital-those of the 19th and 30th of September-in which the most effective portion of the enemy's forces did not succeed in repulsing even the front line of the investing troops, justify the conclusion that sooner or later Paris must fall. In the event of the capitulation being put off by the Provisional Government till

the want of provisions compels the surrender, terrible consequences will ensue. The absurd destruction of railways, bridges, and canals within a certain distance of Paris has not stayed the progress of the German armies for a moment; and all communications by land and water necessary for our purposes have been restored in a very short period. But we have only restored what we require for the military objects we have in view, and enough remains demolished to interrupt easy communication between capital and provinces for a long time to come. The German commander in the case above mentioned will find it absolutely impossible to provision a population of nearly two millions even for a single day. Neither will the neighbourhood of Paris for a distance of many marches supply any means of succouring the Parisians, all that there is in it being indispensably required for the troops. Nor shall we be able to remove a portion of the population by the country roads, as we have no available means of transport. The inevitable consequence of this will be that hundreds of thousands will starve. The French rulers cannot but foresee this as clearly as ourselves. We can only fight out the quarrel forced upon us, but those who bring on such extreme consequences will be responsible for them."

One more attempt was made to stop the progress of hostilities. General Burnside, an American officer sojourning at the Prussian head-quarters, entered Paris with a safe conduct on the 8th, and again a day or two after, bearing to Jules Favre certain propositions from Bismarck for an armistice, in order to the calling of a Constituent Assembly. But whatever the terms were which the Count would have been willing to accord, they were not such as to meet with the approval of the Paris rulers; and they resolved that the struggle should be continued.

Various skirmishings and small engagements took place to the south of Paris, of which the most considerable were at Toury, where the Germans experienced a slight check from General Reyau, and at Epernon on the 5th, where they defeated the French and took the place. At Ablis, south-west of Versailles, on the night of the 7th, a squadron of the 16th regiment of German Hussars was suddenly attacked by a conspiracy of the inhabitants and Franc-tireurs. The village was burnt down as a punishment. The course of the war had now unhappily introduced other elements besides those of regular military tactics into its sanguinary business. Like the Spaniards of 1808, and the Germans themselves of the old Napoleonic times, the French rural inhabitants were assuming the rights of defenders of the soil, and practising, in the character of Franc-tireurs, the surprises and savageries of guerilla warfare. Whatever may be said in justification of the patriotic spirit which prompts such proceedings on the part of ordinarily peaceful and untrained agriculturists or mechanics, it is obvious that it exposes the whole population of a country to dangers and severities from which, under other circumstances, the laws of war would have held it exempt. To

maintain their military communications in a hostile country was a paramount necessity for the German invaders. If every passing peasant under the garb of a blouse might carry a revolver or a Chassepôt, and shoot down scouts or outposts when off their guard, it might well be held indispensable to punish every such act with rigour; nay, to make stern examples by way of preventing their repetition. This was the excuse made for the burnt villages, for the execution even of guiltless peasants where complicity was suspected or possible, for the sacrifice of several lives, on the principle of vicarious expiation, for the outrage committed by one, and for many cruel acts besides, doubtless done without authority at all in moments of individual passion. The German soldiery indeed, observed on the whole a strictness of discipline in which scarcely any other national army could rival them; but they were the executioners of orders which were assuredly terrible in their severity, and which, when committed by an invading army on those who reasonably or unreasonably believe themselves to be fighting for their independence, will, to the outside world sitting in judgment, wear inevitably an aspect of revolting barbarity.

One obvious means of hampering the military operations of the Germans was the cutting of railroads, so as to interrupt and overthrow on-coming trains. This method was resorted to by bands of volunteers, calling themselves "The Wild Boars of the Ardennes" and "The Railway Destroyers." Here again the invaders incurred great odium by announcing that, on the departure of a train in the disaffected districts, the mayor and principal inhabitants should be made to take their places on the engine, so that if the peasants chose to upset the conveyance, their surest victims should be their own compatriots. But no act of war-reprisals made so much impression, or was the cause of so much controversy as to the degree of cruelty perpetrated or provocation given, or indeed as to the actual origin of the catastrophe, as the burning of Bazeilles, a flourishing village near Sedan, which took place on the day of the great battle fought in its vicinity. A visitor, writing some weeks afterwards, speaks thus :-"By this time the name of Bazeilles is known half over the globe as that of the latest illustration of the horrors of war. No description however can convey an idea of the completeness of the destruction which has fallen upon the place. All that can be said is that a month ago there was a bright, busy village, or rather small town, consisting of half-a-dozen streets and numbering nearly 3000 inhabitants. A well-to-do town too, evidently, with plenty of good shops, cafés, rows of neat and even handsome houses, and every sign of comfort and prosperity. Now about one-half of these houses are mere blackened shells, with bulging, tottering walls; the other half are simply represented by heaps of rubbish. From one end of the village to the other there is nothing remaining that can be called a house. . . . . The French story is that the Bavarians were irritated by their losses and the obstinacy of the defence of the Marines,

and in revenge burned the place over the heads of the inhabitants. The opposite account says that the inhabitants, even the women, were found with rifles in their hands, firing on the troops, and that as they had already lost severely in this way, it was necessary to make an example at last, to show that the King's proclamation was not to be a dead letter; but that the inhabitants were cleared out before the village was set on fire."

The imposition of a fine of a million francs upon any department in which bands of Franc-tireurs should be met with, was another decree by which the invading authorities strove to keep down the perilous annoyance. From every town which fell into their hands after resistance offered, they made heavy requisitions in money. Under these circumstances it is not to be wondered at that the local municipalities sometimes evinced more prudence than courage. French observer says, about this time, writing from Orleans, "Our rural municipalities give themselves up to a deplorable panic, and are losing all moral sense. They imagine that the more they cringe before the enemy the less reason they have to fear violence. Listen to a few of their exploits. At Dourdan five Prussian Hussars dashed into the railway-station, cut the telegraph wires and posts, then came to the place pistol in hand, and insolently demanded eight hundred rations from the mayor; and a thousand stupid men stood there, on the market-place of Dourdan, bowing their uncovered heads before five Prussian youths, the oldest of whom was not thirty! While these five pillagers scoured the adjacent communes, the municipality of Dourdan, with a zeal and activity which have never been shown in favour of our French soldiers, hastened to provide for the requisitions of the following day. Nothing was spared to feed the enemy sumptuously. At St. Arnould fifty Uhlans condescended to do honour to a banquet served on the market-place. M. le Maire superintended the waiting, a napkin under his arm. At Trisan the firemen had buried their guns and swords. The maire ordered them to be disinterred, and arranged before the mairie at the service of the Prussians, which was actually done. Last Saturday a peasant was leading a large waggon of hay along one of the roads to Toury. As this is the road which leads to the Prussians, masters of that locality, an astonished foot-passenger asked him what he was going to do with this forage-was he going to give it into the hands of the enemy? 'I have been buying this hay at Orleans,' replied the peasant to his interlocutor. I had none left, and as the Prussians ask me for some, I must have some to give."

Early in October fresh energy was infused into the French Councils at Tours by the arrival there of the energetic Minister, Gambetta, who made his escape from beleaguered Paris by a balloon, on Friday the 7th at eleven o'clock in the morning, narrowly escaped the Prussian needle-guns which were fired by the troopers below at his aërial conveyance, and after awkwardly hitching in the top of a tree near Amiens, finally made his descent